The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it has approved the acquisition of Olympic Air by Aegean Airlines, which is compliant with the EU’s relevant legislation on company mergers.
In the announcement the Commission stressed that if Olympic Air did not merge with Aegean, then it would face closure in the near future due to financial difficulties. This would mean that Aegean would then take Olympic Air’s market share and become the sole domestic flight operator.
European Commissioner Almunia explained that due to the financial crisis Olympic Air would be forced to abandon the market soon enough and as such the merger is not considered to interfere with competition, which would not be possible in the first place if Olympic Air were to shut down.
